


Hope Dangling By a String

by StormyDaze



Category: Find You Every Time - dandelioness, Original Work
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Genderbending, Nonbinary Character, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormyDaze/pseuds/StormyDaze
Summary: “So it turns out silver doesn’t do shit against werewolves,” a voice said in Abdel’s ear.
Relationships: Abdel Awad/Shawna Strange (McLaughlin), Librarian/Their Monster-Hunting Wife Who Keeps Dragging Them Into Adventures
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Canon Ball 2020





	Hope Dangling By a String

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dandelioness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelioness/gifts).
  * Inspired by [call me like that Carly Rae Jepsen song](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11659803) by [dandelioness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelioness/pseuds/dandelioness). 



> CNTW is for some detailed descriptions of blood and minor injuries.

“So it turns out silver doesn’t do shit against werewolves,” a voice said in Abdel’s ear.

Abdel clamped their hand over their hearing aid. Shawna was loud and always enunciated her words, which was usually very useful. However, if she snuck up on Abdel when Abdel wasn’t expecting it, it tended to startle the crap out of them.

Abdel glared up at Shawna from where they sat crouched on the floor, shelving a handful of Discworld novels. The library was only open for another half hour, and most of the patrons had gone home. That was fortunate, because someone would probably have called the police if they’d seen Shawna looking like that. Her lip was split, there were leaves in her hair, and the tank top under her leather jacket was torn open, revealing an oozing scratch across her midriff. Abdel’s eyes scanned Shawna, looking for other injuries. The scratch didn’t look too deep, at least.

Abdel tried to calm their racing heart. “I told you the evidence for that was sketchy at best,” they said, staggering to their feet with aching joints. They brushed dust off their black maxi skirt. “And why are you here? Mandy’s going to flip her shit if she sees you making a mess all over the carpet she just made Emily vacuum.”

“I thought I’d walk you home,” Shawna said. “It’d be romantic or whatever.”

“You wouldn’t know romance if it bit you in the ass,” Abdel muttered, grabbing Shawna’s wrist and dragging her to the single-stall staff bathroom.

“I can be romantic,” Shawna protested as Abdel locked the door behind them. “What about our last anniversary? I did the whole thing with the candles and the fancy dinner—”

“—and the doomsday cult next door summoning an unspeakable eldritch monstrosity from another dimension—”

“That wasn’t _my_ fault,” Shawna said.

“Also, you burned dinner.”

“Yeah, but you ate it anyway,” Shawna said, grinning. Her cracked lip started bleeding again.

Abdel sighed. “Take your shirt off.”

Shawna wiggled her eyebrows. “Okay, but if Mandy catches us, I’m telling her it was your idea.”

“So I can check your _injuries_ ,” Abdel said. “Other than almost getting disemboweled, are you hurt anywhere else?”

Shawna carefully shed her leather jacket and peeled the ruined tank top over her head, revealing a plain white sports bra. Well, it had once been white. Now it was a pale grey, because Shawna didn’t sort her laundry like a civilized person.

“I’m fine, Abdi,” she said, more gently. “Really, it was just one little werewolf. Well, okay, not _little,_ exactly. You know what I mean.”

Abdel pushed Shawna down on the closed lid of the toilet so they could check her over. Aside from the obvious injuries, she did seem to be unharmed.

Abdel dug out the first aid kit from the cabinet under the sink and soaked a paper towel in disinfectant before gently wiping at the scratch on Shawna’s stomach. It had mostly stopped bleeding, they were happy to see.

“So what happened to the werewolf?” Abdel said, mostly to fill the silence. Abdel didn’t usually find silence oppressive; sometimes, when patrons were complaining about something that Abdel didn’t care about and couldn’t fix, they’d surreptitiously turn their hearing aids down until the criticisms faded into a pleasantly indistinct hum. But they’d known Shawna for long enough to know that with her, silence usually meant trouble. It was a deeply ingrained instinct by now.

“Last I saw, it was headed for the state border, which makes it Leland’s problem now,” Shawna said cheerfully. “You should write down that thing about the silver, by the way. For reference later.”

“Duly noted,” Abdel said drily. They tossed the paper towel in the trash and wetted another one with water from the sink, using it to wipe the crusted blood away from Shawna’s lip. She had a smudge of dirt on her nose, too, which Abdel also wiped away, and then went to work picking leaves out of her hair.

Once Abdel had Shawna looking — well, not _presentable,_ exactly, but less like she’d just taken on a biker gang, they handed her the ruined tank top to put back on. “We can’t leave it here for Mandy to find,” they explained at Shawna’s look.

“Pretty sure she knows something’s going on,” Shawna said. “I think she heard us talking about vampires that one time.”

“No, she just thinks you’re a _Twilight_ fangirl,” Abdel said. Shawna looked horrified. “Come on, I still have half a cart to shelve before we close, and you’re going to help me, since it’s your fault I’m running late.”

“Can you dig up some books about non-Catholic exorcisms?” Shawna asked, following Abdel out of the bathroom. “I’m pretty sure that fire on Oak Street was started by some kind of spirit, but I think the family that owns the house are agnostic, so—”

Abdel sighed. “You shelve, I’ll research,” they said. Shawna grinned and gave Abdel a peck on the cheek before skipping away to take over Abdel’s shelving. Abdel retreated behind the reference desk to do a quick search about exorcisms, looking over their shoulder for Mandy.

They kept one eye on Shawna, sliding books onto their shelves, while they pulled up the online catalogue. The vice around their heart eased a little, seeing Shawna safe and whole. One of these days, Shawna’s monster-hunting was going to get her killed. It was an inevitability that Abdel had forced themself to accept a long time ago. That wasn’t what worried them.

What worried them was the concern that they wouldn’t be there when in happened. If Shawna was going to die, Abdel intended to go down with her.

But nobody was dying tonight, although the werewolf might wish it was once Leland got his hands on it. Tonight, Abdel had Shawna to walk them home through a brisk and blessedly werewolf-free autumn evening. For now, it was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Mandy totally knows, she just enjoys watching Shawna and Abdel try to pretend like they weren't obviously talking about monsters in public.


End file.
